On the eve of the 15th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, President Chen Shui-bian (
"The most memorable impression of the Tiananmen incident of June 4th is that of that small, thin person holding up a line of tanks, which was a heroic and disturbing impression," Chen said. "But in March of the following year, Taiwan also experienced the great Wild Lily Students' Movement (野百合學運) at the CKS Memorial Hall."
He said that China's Tiananmen movement and Taiwan's student movement, also known as the March Study Movement, were pleas for the same things -- democracy and reform, but that the different measures adopted by the two governments to deal with the events made for contrasting historical turning points for the two sides.
"What the June 4 Tiananmen incident brought was ruthless political suppression; stability was turned completely on its head and the progress of the Chinese people was unceremoniously halted," Chen said. "But the March Study Movement, in pressing for the establishment of a national affairs conference, changing the way the Legislative Yuan and the National Assembly are elected and a consensus on realizing the direct election of the president, also set a timetable for [further] reform," Chen said.
"Fifteen years ago we faced such comparable situations, but 15 years on the results are completely different," Chen said.
"And the reason is that we firmly embrace the principle of believing in Taiwan, believing in the people, which has enabled Taiwan's democratization to avoid unfortunate obstacles and stand on the right side of history," he said.
Chen also urged opposition politicians not to mislead the public by defining Taiwan's democratic development as "populism," which, he said, was no more true of Taiwan's experience than of the earlier experience of Europe and America in forging democratic societies.
He stressed that the people of Taiwan are extremely principled and practical, their eyes gleam with a vision for Taiwan's development, they have a fierce desire to be their own master and to grasp control of their own destiny.
"People who censure others as advocators of `populism' are completely denying the value of democracy and believe that the people are stupid and easily manipulated, so they preach that placing sovereignty in the people is dangerous -- and irresponsible," Chen said.
"In fact, Taiwan's democratization has nothing to do with `populism.' One cannot, just because one's views are different from other people's, say that those other people are populists," he said.
Chen said that on the eve of the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, even more affirmation and respect had to be paid to Taiwan's 23 million people, who, he said, always bring the utmost wisdom to bear.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and